Expected Value: The One Number Behind Every Poker Decision

You made the right call and lost the pot. It happens constantly, and it is the single biggest reason players quietly abandon good decisions. If the correct play can lose, how are you supposed to know it was correct?

Expected value is the answer. It is one number that tells you what a decision is worth on average, separate from what happened to you this time. Pot odds tell you whether a call clears the bar. Expected value tells you by how much, and which of your options is best, which is a different and far more useful question.

If you have not read How to Calculate Pot Odds Fast and Implied Odds Explained, start with those. This post ties both of them together.